Sunday, May 22, 2016

Senator Cotton: We have an 'under-incarceration problem'

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican, recently slammed his colleagues' efforts to
pass sweeping criminal justice reforms, saying the United States is actually
suffering from an "under-incarceration problem," reported Politico.

Cotton, who has been an outspoken critic of the bill in
Congress that would reduce mandatory minimum sentences, smacked down what he
called "baseless" arguments that there are too many offenders locked
up for relatively small crimes, that incarceration is too costly, or that
"we should show more empathy toward those caught up in the
criminal-justice system."

"Take a look at the facts. First, the claim that too
many criminals are being jailed, that there is over-incarceration, ignores an
unfortunate fact: for the vast majority of crimes, a perpetrator is never
identified or arrested, let alone prosecuted, convicted, and jailed,"
Cotton said during a speech at The Hudson Institute, according to his prepared
remarks. "Law enforcement is able to arrest or identify a likely
perpetrator for only 19 percent of property crimes and 47 percent of violent
crimes. If anything, we have an under-incarceration problem."

About Matt

An analysis of crime and punishment from the perspective of a former prosecutor and current criminal justice practitioner.
The views expressed on this blog are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or postions of any county, state or federal agency.